A Recording Studio for Every Student: Teaching Music Class in the Digital Era | Special Reports - Education Week

This special report was produced with support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Coverage in Education Week of learning through innovative designs for school innovation is supported in part by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York at www.carnegie.org. Education Week retains sole editorial control over the content of this coverage.

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Teachers say new tech tools give young students more creative freedom in music classes, and offer older students who haven’t participated in band or choir an entry point into the subject, continues Education Week.

Richard Maxwell, a music teacher and creator of the Creative Musical Arts & Sciences program at Arcadia, demonstrates how to use an Ableton push pad controller for freshmen Carson Stern and Kennady MacDonald.
Photo: Erin Irwin/Education Week

After Kevin Lane watched the Beatles play on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in February 1964, he knew he needed to get his hands on a record player.

Lane, age 5 at the time, hounded his parents, who eventually gave in. He listened to the performance over and over, cataloging the different sounds in his memory: the guitar, the bass line, the voices harmonizing. He remembers asking an adult whether he might be able to make something like that, and being told no. “Only special people get to go to recording studios,” was the message that stuck with him, he said.

Now an elementary music teacher himself, Lane gives students at Woodstation Elementary School in Rock Spring, Ga., the opportunity he wished he could have had at their age: time to create and record in a “studio” of their own... 

  Digital Production vs. Ensemble Performance Cost is often a barrier to using tech for this kind of differentiated instruction, in any subject. But integrating music production software can cost less than outfitting a band or orchestra with instruments—especially if the school already uses laptops or tablets for other courses. 

  Starting a music tech program “isn’t as expensive as some people might think,” said Williams. Most music-production software, like Ableton or Pro Tools, can be downloaded using schools’ existing technology—devices for a 1-to-1 initiative or desktops in a media center. And some platforms, like GarageBand and Audacity, are available for free.

But new music teachers often don’t have experience using digital production software, or even composing in a classroom setting, said Brian Meyers, an assistant professor in the department of music at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, who works with preservice music educators: “They’re coming from high schools that are very traditional: Sit down, practice, leave.” 
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Source: Education Week